The Monster Flexes Its Claws

A warning

“It is the thesis of this book that modern man, freed from the bonds of pre-individualistic society, which simultaneously gave him security and limited him, has not gained freedom in the positive sense of the realization of his individual self; that is, the expression of his intellectual, emotional and sensuous potentialities. Freedom though it has brought him independence and rationality, has made him isolated, and thereby, anxious and isolated. This isolation is unbearable and the alternatives he is confronted with are either to escape from the burden of his freedom, or to advance to the full realization of positive freedom which is based upon the uniqueness and individuality of man. .... the understanding of the reasons for the flight from freedom is a premise for any action which aims at the victory over the totalitarian forces.” -- Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom, 1941

The New York Times writes:

In his first public appearance since leaving office, Donald Trump went through, by name, every Republican who supported his second impeachment and called for them to be ousted.

After days of insisting they could paper over their intraparty divisions, Republican lawmakers were met with a grim reminder of the challenge ahead on Sunday when former President Donald J. Trump stood before a conservative conference and ominously listed the names of Republicans he is targeting for defeat.

In an address on Sunday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, his first public appearance since he left the White House, Mr. Trump read a sort of hit list of every congressional Republican who voted to impeach him, all but vowing revenge.

“The RINOs that we’re surrounded with will destroy the Republican Party and the American worker and will destroy our country itself,” he said, a reference to the phrase “Republicans In Name Only,” adding that he would be “actively working to elect strong, tough and smart Republican leaders.”

Mr. Trump took special care to single out Representative Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader. He called Ms. Cheney “a warmonger” and said her “poll numbers have dropped faster than any human being I’ve ever seen.” Then he falsely claimed he had helped revive Mr. McConnell’s campaign last year in Kentucky.  

Mr. Trump was the exception, repeatedly taking aim at the Biden administration. “In just one short month, we have gone from America first to America last,” he said, criticizing the new president on issues ranging from immigration to the Iran nuclear deal. “We all knew that the Biden administration was going to be bad, but none of us even imagined just how bad they would be and how far left they would go.” 

Mr. Trump made a specific pitch for people to donate to two committees associated with him, a notable move given that he has been the Republican National Committee’s biggest draw for the last four years. He gave an explicit description of “Trumpism” as a political ideology focused on geopolitical deal-making and immigration restrictions, and painted the Republicans who voted for impeachment as decided outliers in an otherwise united party. 

“The Supreme Court didn’t have the guts or the courage to do anything about it,” Mr. Trump said of a body that includes three of his appointees. He was met with chants of “You won, you won!” (emphasis added)

The monster is not repentant. It never was competent or honest. It continues to rely heavily on dark free speech, especially vicious lies and crackpot appeals to irrational fear and rage, to keep American society and politics torn apart. McConnell and Cheney are now RINOs to be hunted down and booted out of the fascist GOP cult. If they are a danger to the GOP, and they are to the monster's vision of it, and will destroy America, what do you think it will say about the threat to America from democrats and others who oppose the monster? 

Just think about all of that. If the beast succeeds, consider exactly what will be left of that empty shell of a formerly pro-democracy political party. One man, in just about five years will have dragged it down, killed it, fed on the carcass and turned the party into a fantasy and lies-based fascist cult that tolerates badness, e.g., corruption, bigotry and incompetence. One can consider the pre-monster GOP to have been morally and intellectually bankrupt. The monster accurately sensed that weakness and let itself simply be sucked into the vacuum that it quickly filled with its toxic dark free speech and bigoted anti-democratic fascism.

That is how fragile democracy and freedom are. That is how much danger democracy and freedom are in. That is what Erich Fromm was warning us about.

Or, does that overstate the threat? Did Fromm get the analysis wrong? The monster's supporters see no threat from their leader or their patriotic and honorable party. They do see dire threat from political opposition, the democratic party, President Biden, the LGBQT community, the free press, communism, socialism, secularism and other hated groups, people, ideas and anti-fascist institutions. Are they correct in their assessment?